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A new rumor suggests the recently fired head coach is the favorite to get a similar start with the Orlando Magic. And the strange thing is that he too was appointed to this job two decades ago.

After blowing a 3–1 lead in their opening-round playoff matchup against the Detroit Pistons, Magic management decided that the team needed a new voice leading their locker room and bench in 2026–27. Still, it won’t be easy to replace former head coach Jamahl Mosley after playing a leading role in building the team into a playoff contender.

The organization has been linked to several experienced coaches to replace Mosley. However, according to NBA insider Jake Fisher, there appears to be a strong contender for the position. “Coaching insiders across the league landscape are operating under the belief that former Bulls coach Billy Donovan has an excellent chance to land the position.”

Fisher said the former Chicago Bulls head coach “has been talking with Magic president Jeff Weltman and will soon have an in-person meeting with the Orlando chief executive”. Donovan resigned from his role with the Bulls last month following a 31-51 finish and a fourth consecutive loss in Chicago. His record as a coach in the NBA is 469-413.

The former Florida Gators coach was hired as head coach of the Magic in 2007, before he reneged on the deal and returned to the Gators. He eventually jumped to the NBA eight years later with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Jeff Van Gundy is also a contender for the head coach position of Orlando Magic

While Donovan appears to be a strong contender to become the next head coach of the Magic, it is not a done deal. Another experienced coach with a strong resume who Fisher claims is in the running for the job is former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy.

He left coaching in 2007 and remained a favorite on-air voice for the NBA on ESPN for several years. However, after 16 years, he was let go by the network in 2023. Since then, he has been a consultant for the Boston Celtics and is currently an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers, where he has earned praise.

Van Gundy’s career record as a head coach is 430–318. His peak came when he led the Knicks for seven seasons, leading them to the playoffs six times, including their last trip to the Finals in 1999.

After earning a journalism degree in 2017, Jason Burgos worked as a contributor to several sites, including MMA Sacca… More about Jason Burgos

Carlos Carvalhal still wonders what would have happened if Sheffield Wednesday had completed the job at Wembley. Ten years from now, supporters will probably do the same.

portuguese newspaper game This week Wednesday’s remarkable 2015/16 season was revisited through a major feature attached to the book “Carlos Had a Dream”, in which authors Dominic Howson and Carvalhal both reflected on the club’s painful near-miss and the stories that still surround that team.

Sheffield Wednesday reached the Championship play-off final under Carvalhal before losing 1–0 to Hull City on Wednesday, missing out on one of football’s richest prizes. For many supporters, it still hurts.

“For the younger generation, the 2015/16 season defines the club,” Howson explained. “That trip to Wembley was memorable, the first in 23 years. For many supporters it was the greatest moment of their lives.”

Over 40,000 Wednesday supporters traveled to Wembley that day. Fans believed that promotion could eventually bring the club back to the Premier League for the first time since 2000.

The £170 million question

Howson acknowledged that the feeling towards the club during that period was different to that experienced by Sheffield Wednesday supporters for years.

“Nobody expected us to fight for promotion, to reach the play-offs,” He remembered. “And nobody expected us to beat Brighton and get to Wembley.”

That semi-final against Brighton remains one of the defining nights of Carvalhal’s spell. Wednesday won 3-1 on aggregate and suddenly found themselves one game away from the Premier League. However, the ending was brutal.

“Many players froze on football’s biggest stage,” Howson accepted. “It was a painful end to a remarkable season.”

Howson believes that the promotion would have changed Carvalhal’s status forever.

“If Carvalhal had finished with promotion to the Premier League, I think he would have achieved legendary status in the city and he would have been forever appreciated.” He said.

The financial impact will also be huge. Promotion was valued at around £170 million (€195 million), money that could potentially shape the club’s future.

“This could have helped the club to reposition itself over time,” Howson acknowledged, before adding a more cautious thought. “But given what we know today about the ownership situation, perhaps not going up was a blessing in disguise. We don’t know what might have happened.”

Carvalhal himself is not interested in dwelling too much on the defeat.

“If we had gone up, I don’t know whether I would have stayed at Sheffield Wednesday for many years,” He reflected. “It was like that. We started as underdogs. We weren’t promotion favorites and still finished sixth.”

The Portuguese manager instead prefers to focus on how expectations changed dramatically during that first season.

“I arrived at Sheffield Wednesday with the idea of ​​stabilizing the team, then suddenly we found ourselves fighting for promotion to the Premier League,” He said. “I can feel like a champion only for exceeding objectives.”

He also admitted that his relationship with the club has become deeper than expected.

“At that time I had opportunities to leave, but I did not want to do so because of my attachment to the club,” Carvalhal revealed.

“If you leave a mark on a club to such an extent that people remember you years later, and someone decides to write a book about that campaign, then that’s rewarding,” He said. “Only the promotion was missing because everything else was extraordinary.”

Carvalhal also proudly highlighted the historical significance of what his employees accomplished.

“We were the club’s first foreign coaching staff and were responsible for some of the best results of the modern era,” he explained. “Staying in people’s memories as Portuguese makes it even more special.”

“A giant wake up”

Carvalhal’s personality became almost as famous as the football. Supporters still remember the metaphor, the emotional speech and the feeling that something different was happening around Hillsborough.

One sentence followed him everywhere.

“I had an expression that became very popular – ‘Let’s wake up a giant’,” Carvalhal was recalled.

In many ways, Sheffield Wednesday supporters believe that is exactly what they did.

“The club was literally sleeping,” he explained. “We almost doubled the crowds, increased attendances by 30 per cent and our away allocations were always sold out.”

Then came Wembley.

“The 40,000 tickets we got were sold out,” Carvalhal added. “That was our big objective.”

Howson also revisited the origins of the famous “Carlos had a dream” chant, which eventually became inseparable from that team.

“It happened at Brentford when Lucas Joao scored a late winner,” he explained. “The supporters sang the song all afternoon and at first they didn’t even realize it was about them.”

Carvalhal embraced it completely. According to Howson, the Portuguese coach later had the song embroidered on the inside of his jacket and printed on his boots.

Howson also highlighted another famous Carvalhal moment, this time after a chaotic comeback against Cardiff City.

“Had a loss on Wednesday, then threw in two more forwards and began a spectacular comeback,” The author recalled. “He later explained this by saying that he ‘put all the meat on the grill.'”

This explanation became another example of the Portuguese manager’s strange charm.

“It was philosophical, colorful and said with a smile,” Howson added. “He connected with people regardless of results. He had charisma and humor.”

arsenal story

One of the best stories of Carvalhal’s spell involved Barry Bannan and Ross Wallace before Sheffield Wednesday’s famous 3–0 win over Arsenal in the League Cup, a result many supporters still talk about today.

Carvalhal admitted that he had deliberately told both players that they would not be involved. The reaction was exactly what he wanted.

“I told Ross Wallace and Barry Bannon that they wouldn’t play because we had too many matches.” he explained. “This was a conversation to test their reactions.”

The pair were angry.

“They were upset and convinced they wouldn’t play,” Carvalhal said. “But I was always confident that I would use them.”

Believing they had the night off, both players went out for a drink.

“They went to drink beer and drank too much,” Carvalhal laughed. “But because I actually planned on playing them, they started right away and both had very good games.”

Sheffield Wednesday then defeated Arsenal 3–0.

“They were surprised and started laughing afterward,” Carvalhal added. “But in proper British fashion, there is no beer that can beat ours.”

This line perhaps explains why Sheffield Wednesday supporters still remember the Carvalhal years differently from almost everything that followed.

Brock Lesnar’s chest tattoo is one of the most recognizable images in the history of professional wrestling and combat sports. However, the story behind how it got there is far from the meticulous planning that usually goes into major body ink.

Speaking on the Spittin’ Chicklets podcast, Lesnar revealed that he had no memory of getting the tattoo and only realized it existed when he woke up the next morning. Lesnar told that this tattoo came during a difficult period of his life.

According to Lesnar’s own account, he had consumed half a gallon of vodka and some Vicodin before walking down the street at night and getting a sword tattooed on the center of his chest. Despite having no memory of the decision, when the fog cleared he remembered the emotional reasoning behind it. The symbolism, he said, reflected exactly where he was at that point in his life.

He was training for the NFL in Scottsdale, Arizona, when a motorcycle accident left him in a dark place mentally and physically. A combination of circumstances led to a night that ended with an unplanned trip to a tattoo shop.

“I got that tattoo, I was drunk in Scottsdale, Ariz.,” Lesnar said. “I was in Scottsdale training for the NFL, just got injured in a motorcycle accident, and I just got kicked ass. Like, I was going through all that stuff, and there was a tattoo shop across the street from the biker bar — and that’s not a good place for a tattoo shop. I got this tattoo, I didn’t even know I got such a bad thing. I wake up the next day, and I’m like, ‘What is this?'”

“The meaning behind it was, I felt like my back was against the wall, and someone had a sword, a knife stuck in my throat, like, ‘What are you going to do now?’” Lesnar said. “So, I went over there, I said, ‘Yeah, let’s put a big ugly sword on my chest.'”

As Indiana Fever star Kaitlin Clark’s popularity rivals that of the NBA to some extent, sports analyst Nick Wright will make an interesting comparison regarding her accessibility to the mainstream compared to some stars from other basketball leagues. With Clarke returning from fever injury and aiming to dominate this upcoming season, Wright will be making a claim that many will debate.

Wright’s show “What’s Wright?” In he claimed that Clark is “the most famous basketball player under the age of 35.” While it would be obvious for the WNBA to pay attention to other stars like A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and several other stars, the notion remains true that Clark has brought a major spotlight to the league.

Looking at the NBA’s most popular stars, Wright would say it remains a duo of 41-year-old LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and 37-year-old Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets.

“The three most famous basketball players right now are LeBron James, 41, and then Steph, 37, 38, and KD. [Durant]Wright said.

“The most famous basketball player under the age of 35 is Kaitlynn Clark. The 3 most famous basketball players at the moment are LeBron James, 41, and then Steph, 37, 38 [Curry]& [Kevin Durant]”

-Nick Wright 🤔

(via @WhatsWrightShow)pic.twitter.com/alMkBm26Zy

– ClutchPoints (@clutchpoints) 18 February 2026

Nick Wright talks about the popularity of Fever’s Caitlin Clarke

While it’s fair to ponder the conversation and crossover with Clark and the NBA, as Wright is doing, there may also be fans who point to certain players under the age of 35 who contradict the analyst’s point.

Names that could be mentioned are Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Luka Doncic of the Lakers, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs. Wright mentions him saying that none of them “caught up to that level”, although the NBA is hoping Wembanyama can be there someday.

“Anthony Edwards, Luca [Doncic]Jokic, Giannis [Antetokounmpo]They haven’t reached that level, and that’s the main issue the league is facing that they don’t have a solution for right now, and they’re hoping [Wembanyama] Will resolve this,” Wright said.

At any rate, Clark’s popularity is sure to grow every year.

The 2026 NBA All-Star Game weekend took a trip down memory lane by way of Mac McClung. The veteran no longer participated in this year’s event as a member of the Chicago Bulls. Still, he made headlines — one that made Phoenix Suns fans think of Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire.

McClung helped release a series of online videos after the ’26 Dunk Contest was completed. The fourth, however, is reminiscent of the famous Nash-Stoudemire headbutt dunk.

four stings @macmcclung37 Would have done in this year’s dunk contest 🔥

Which one was your favourite? Text DUNK to 69097 to vote! pic.twitter.com/lrtNdcoFek

– Team VKTRY (@TeamVKTRY) 15 February 2026

Nash and Stoudemire had an epic soccer-like dunk in the 2005 NBA All-Star Game. Despite not attending the celebration in Inglewood, McClung has become the first person to actually recreate that dunk.

Why did Mac McClung skip the 2026 NBA All-Star Game Dunk Contest?

McClung likely entered the Intuit Dome as the heavy favorite to win again.

Except this year he opted to take a year off.

“I think we were just going back and forth, and then they were calling me, like ‘if I was doing this people weren’t going to want to do it,’ and I thought it would be best if I just sit out this year and let it be, no matter what,” McClung said.

Other words – McClung opted to allow this year’s edition to become more competitive without him. McClung’s presence may have made the participants feel like they had lost.

McClung is on a two-way deal with the Bulls, which he signed on February 5, the day of the NBA trade deadline. He may continue to bounce between the NBA and the G-League.

Meanwhile, Miami Heat’s Keshad Johnson won this year’s dunk title with the help of famous rapper E-40.